Monica Brown has always been one of my favorite Atlanta artists and just a few days ago, she celebrated the 20th anniversary of her first album, Ms. Thang!

Producer Dallas Austin, who is hailed as the driving force behind TLC’s rise to stardom, saw Monica do a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” and was so impressed that he took her under his wing and signed her to his Arista Records-distributed label, Rowdy Records.

It was on July 18, 1995, that Monica’s debut album hit shelves to much fanfare and acclaim for her strong vocals and feisty swagger. Ms. Thang peaked at No. 7 on Billboard‘s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and produced multiple hit singles, like “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days),” and the double A-Side single, “Before You Walk Out of My Life” and “Why I Love You So Much.” Both singles peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, making Monica the youngest artist in history — she was 14 at the time — with consecutive No. 1 songs.

Both Dallas and Monica hit the net recently to reminisce about the album that started it all for the talented songstress.

The highly anticipated docu-drama ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story’ aired last night and while most ‘made-for-TV’ biopics are so fictionalized that the final product bears no truth whatsoever, VH1′s effort flawlessly maintained TLC’s version of their history.

For younger viewers unfamiliar with TLC’s history, the film served as an introduction to arguably the biggest girl group in music history, but for long-time fans of the former trio, it was a heartbreaking story of how the music industry can chew you up and spit you out if you don’t know your worth.

Super producer Dallas Austin held a launch event for his “Beat Thang” sampler/beat machine at his private residence last weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. (May 27, 2011).

In addition to his son Tron and baby mama Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, several popular area beat makers joined Austin to sample his sampler, including Jazze Pha, Drummaboy, DJ Toomp, JLac (Usher’s lil brother) and more.

Keyshia Knight-Pulliam was spotted partying poolside with Dallas Austin at the W Hotel last weekend during BMI’s Escape Summer Pool Party. Although it appears no one got wet, there was lots of fun, food and liquor… as well as the view from the 16th floor of the swanky hotel.